I always suspected it would be Laura Dern. The casting is perfect. I like the bob - and the dress! - but would have preferred her regular hair. I always pictured her with her regular hair in a pants suit looking more FBI-ish. The "Blue Velvet" parallels is ideal.

Interesting bit from a poster (RunDNA) on Reddit:

"We first heard of Diane in the Pilot Episode on 8 April, 1990. We finally saw her face on 11 June, 2017. That's a wait of 9,896 days (or 27 years, 1 month and 3 days.)"

Whenever we rewatch the series or FWWM we will picture her when Cooper's speaking into his tape recorder - or standing blowing her a kiss in the doorway (was that in the film proper - or the "Missing Pieces"?).

Great to finally see her! I'd love it if we get a lot more of her soon.

Actually, now that some time has passed, I like "The full blossom of the evening".

There has been an IMO misguided movement to tie the "sheriff statue" into Coop's FBI Story poster from MLMT [EDIT: Saw the photos posted in the other thread showing Stewart in the film wearing the exact same attire...I recant my "misguided" pejorative and am now on board with this theory haha.]

However, IMO, if that book has any bearing on TP:TR at all, it will be in its description of Diane, given that wig......

Very strong look, I prefer Dern's usual hair (it's really nice!) but I think this makes Diane a bit more interesting and possibly help differentiate her from Dern's other roles. Definitely think her and Albert have some kind of history, which wouldn't be that surprising with it all considered. I wonder how long she stayed with the FBI after Cooper disappeared. I think she should be able to tell doppelganger's not Cooper, but tbh - I don't think anyone even knows doppelgangers exist at this point - so it'll be interesting to see how she helps, if at all.